


After the Stone

by DarkLordMyrtle



Category: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 06:05:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3639534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkLordMyrtle/pseuds/DarkLordMyrtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Be'lal is not a fool. He knows how to survive a confrontation with an Aes Sedai. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Stone

Be'lal leaned against a column of black stone, thinking about how he had very nearly died. He had been foolish to offer the countryman a swordfight on equal footing. He should have seen through the weakness to find the obvious trap. Well, he had survived, and he would not make the mistake again.

He thought of the woman who had very nearly killed him. A short woman, she called herself Aes Sedai and tried to leash Lews Therin. That had been her first mistake, but she had not let it stop her from pursuing him here. Liandrin would have to be punished; her trap had failed utterly."I thought you were neatly out of the way, woman. No matter. You are only an annoyance. A stinging fly. A biteme. I will cage you with the others, and teach you to serve the Shadow with your puny powers," he had said to her. A monologue that any foolish villain would have presented to his foes before dying. If Be'lal had been incompetent, he might have actually fallen to her blast of Balefire.

He had fought with honor; he found that fighting otherwise, when it came to the art of the sword, was a perversion of the sport. However, he was no fool. When that woman had approached, he wove Air, and Fire and Earth just so, and crept away invisibly. His voice sounded some distance away through his apparent body, and he smirked with satisfaction to find that she had let him finish the speech before unleashing a bolt of Balefire. If she believed it had hit, it was even better, but for now his survival was enough.

Then Ishamael had appeared, wounding the woman and distracting the boy. Once Be'lal was certain he would not be pursued, he opened a gateway to make his escape.

* * *

Be'lal walked the path to the mountain of Shayol Ghul, contemplating his victory. The spikes on the ceiling nearly brushed his short white hair as he strode through the tunnels. He thought nothing of them now. They would act the same for the most petite Cairhienen woman as for the tallest Aiel. The promise of obedience to the Great Lord loomed over them like these mandibles of stone, waiting to crush those who merely hinted at betrayal.

The tunnel opened into the center of the mountain itself, where Be'lal could see the sky above. He took only an instant to survey his surroundings with satisfaction, and then the Great Lord's voice -- if it could be called something so innocent as a voice -- erupted in his head.

BE'LAL. HOW HAVE YOU SERVED ME, BE'LAL?

Be'lal trembled as the pain, the euphoria, the Great Lord's presence and proximity overwhelmed him.

THE ONE CALLED DRAGON HOLDS CALLANDOR. HOW HAVE YOU FULFILLED YOUR PLANS? HOW HAVE YOU SHOWN ME YOUR WORTH?

"The Dragon is feared, Great Lord. Respected, but feared. If he fulfills the prophecies, he will be respected more, but if I urge him in the right direction, he will be my force of destruction without knowing he has been leashed." The heat of the chamber made beads of perspiration appear on his forehead, but he could not notice. "I have not lost, Great Lord. I have not failed you."

WE SHALL SEE.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing fanfiction. I know this particular work is very short, but I can't make it longer. Anyways, I plan to write a series with this and many others, and a lot of them will draw from other works I've seen, such as the Asmodean Lives AU.


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